Pumpkin again O: …Oh, and a new camera.

I’m testdriving my new camera… I know I really wanted one of those fancy slr’s that I could change all the lenses out of and all those fanciful other things about them buttt I settled for a digital point and shoot canon powershot. I ALSO got a tripod, which I haven’t tried yet… hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to do so. Anywho, on to the pie. It was delicious. All that I pumpkin pie should be, I believe. Actually, I was slightly impressed with it being pretty much au natural… A week before I had slaved over my food processor to make the pumpkin puree (Any truly easily distracted person will tell you how energy consuming it is to closely watch something for more than mmm 11 seconds) and well that’s it, but it was my first non-canned pumpkin pie, hooray! And which recipe to celebrate this coming of age moment with? The cake bible’s of course. (even though she calls for the canned version) It of course, does not disappoint… Pumpkin-y, creamy, mildly sweet and appropriately spiced… *sagely nods* yes, yes, I believe that is how it was. Hm, I suppose that’s not the most poignant description… well you’ll just have to make it and see for yourself then. : p

I made a few tweaks: I reduced the ginger to 1 tsp because most recipes I have done only call for 1/2 tsp usually and I use the ginger from penzey’s spices, which, I’ve noted their spices are quite a bit stronger than the common brands sold elsewhere. I did not process the pumpkin filling, mostly because of preference for traditional spoon mixing (and the loathsome task of cleaning the processor). It was, dare I say, pretty darn velvety all the same. I *gasp* did not use her pie crust recipe… I did an extraordinarily simple pate brisee instead (which I also photographed the steps for anyone wondering how things should look progressively)

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Oh yes, did I mention this pie calls for gingersnaps? I thought, well hell, I already made the puree sooo might as well make these as well. I really really like these for gingersnaps… They’re dark and spicy but also buttery. Mmm. (The recipe)

Okkay so here is the photo walk through of the pate brisee… People always say it’s too much of a fuss to make a pie crust, that we should just get that powdery premade tube of it…. Not this one. Seriously, it is more work to drive to the grocery store than to make this. When I first started making pie crusts I always had a hard time with comparing the written descriptions to real life, so here hopefully is something that will help any who have the same dilemma. I like to use the danish butter for them because it makes them taste *so delicious*; but I understand if you don’t agree with using $8 a lb butter… In which case, the better quality regular butter the better taste it will have. (Here is the written version of this recipe)

You will need 1/2 cup (113 grams) of butter. Dice it up into 1 inch pieces, or like so here. Chill in the freezer for a little bit (I chilled it for 20 while doing other things)

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Meanwhile, grab your handy tempermental food processor and put in 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (175 g), 1 tbs white sugar (14 g) and 1/2 tsp salt. Pulse until combined. (five seconds should do it) Also, you will be needing cold water, an 1/8 to a 1/4 cup(30-60 ml) overall. If you don’t have any put some in a measuring cup and stick it in the freezer with your butter.

Once your butter has chilled, put it in the food processor and pulse for about 15 seconds. It should look something like this:

Then, you add the water. If you have a feeding tube you can slowly pour it in – I did not so I just put a few tablespoons in at a time and blended for a few seconds. The less water you use, the better. Mine looked like this, which I believe could have used a little less water but it still turned out fine in the end.